In the following day he left home so early that the morning fog still hung in the air turning everything into a phantasmagorical dream. Will felt exhausted, he walked for the sake of walking and for the inability to stay inside the house another second consumed in his thoughts and insomnias.
The city was crossed by a small canal. Its waters ran quietly towards west and there was a walkway that followed it all the way out of town. Will walked down the pathway with his eyes lost on the water when he felt he was being followed. He stopped and instinctively took his hand to where his gun should be, if he had it. He looked back but saw nothing through the fog, he felt his heart race and his muscles stiffen up on the feeling of alertness. Slowly a small figure started to take shape in the mist, and after a second Will understood it was a dog, a skinny dog, that approached him to sniff his feet with fear.
Will stroke his weak pelage and the dog waggled his tail happily.
"What are you doing here buddy? Are you lost?" Will searched for a collar but the dog had none, then looked around waiting for someone to appear but no one came. "Are you alone? Me too. If you want you can come with me, I can find you a nice corner for you to sleep in, you can always make me company. The apartment feels kind of lonely anyway."
Dog and man walked side by side towards home as morning broke through the low clouds.
As it was weekend Will could devote all his time to his new friend, he took him home and gave him a bath in his bathtub which proved to be extremely challenging since the animal seemed to never had taken a bath in his life, and the whole bathroom ended up in a giant mess. Once he cleaned and dried the dog he served him a meal with the dog food he had bought as they walked home. The animal was starving and devoured everything in the blink of an eye. The dog seemed to easily get used to the apartment, he was quiet and did not run at all inside the house and after discovering the window he sat next to it watching the street.
"It turned out to be a beautiful day, what do you say to a walk? There is a place I want to go, want to come with me?" the dog seemed to understand and immediately stood at its feet wagging his tail. "Well, let's go then."
They both got to the bookstore in an instant, the dog looked radiant and Will felt happy for him, and for being about to see Emily again. That feeling was strange to him, but he was determined to explore it at its fullest, thinking of her made a fire burn inside him and that made him feel extremely alive.
Will stood by the door and looked inside, there was no one there. "You know, this is how stores get mugged." He said to the dog in a low voice. "Emily?" he called. His heart raced as he heard sounds coming from the back of the store.
"My dear Will, is that you?" It was not Emily's voice and shortly after Julia appeared with a smile on her face, Will could not help but to feel slightly disappointed, but immediately tried to shook that feeling away.
"Hello Julia, I didn't know you were back to work." He said smiling and staying by the door.
"I'm all better now, I'm always better when I'm surrounded by my books. But are you going to stay at the door? Why don't you come in?"
"I brought a friend and I'm not sure if he can come inside."
Julia looked for who it was and was delighted to find the dog sitting very still next to Will.
"Oh but come in both of you, what a lovely creature where did you get him?"
"He came to me, in the canal."
"They're extraordinary creatures aren't they, take good care of him as he will do the same for you." She said mysteriously "But tell me, you did not come to visit me. You've met my granddaughter didn't you?"
"Yes. I didn't expect her to be so different from you." He said honestly.
"She is also an extraordinary creature. When she was born I could see immediately that she brought wild fire in her heart. She's not easy, she has a very peculiar temperament, but I have never met a kinder heart."
Will wanted to ask her where the girl was but did not dare, he thought it could seem strange so he simply enjoyed Julia's company that proved to be as comforting as always. He then took the chance to tell her about Alana and her behavior the night before, without sharing details about his past on the FBI and all that followed. To which she replied:
"Women are complicated, as you must already know. We never know quite what we want, but at the same time we always want everything. We can always look strong and courageous, as if we were able to hold the weight of the world on our shoulders. But the fact is that we are also fragile and sensitive and sometimes we just need someone to embrace us so that we feel we don't need to carry all the weight alone."
Julia, Will and his new friend spent the rest of the afternoon at the bookstore, talking and eating lemon cookies until the sun set over the horizon.